Wolf SongsChapter Two
by Aurora Glorianna
Summary: A desperate Shelby makes a decision, and the people hunting her plot her demise. Where will she go now? Sorry for the shortness guys. I wanted to get it out before doing homework. Next one will be longer.


Chapter Two.

The cave was tiny, but it was deep. It would do until the weather cleared up. Shelby shivered when she heard the howling of wolves. They hadn't stopped howling all night.

Anyone might just think it was the normal thing in Dracula country. But Shelby knew different. She took it for the sign that it was. It meant the hunters were close now. She would have to move double time in the morning if she wanted to see the weekend. Shelby sighed and pulled her blanket tight around her. Any wood she might have found would have been too soaked to start a fire with. And besides, she had never mastered the skill of summoning fire. It had been the one thing she hadn't been able to pass the tests for. It was what kept her from her priestess hood.

Shelby leaned against the cave wall, placing her blades in a circle around her; within easy reach no matter what direction she would have to move in should she be attacked.

She was sick of running and she hadn't even been at it long. She knew it would come to a fight. But for her to win that fight, Shelby would have to go places she had only seen in her nightmares. Places that held a deep darkness. The kind of darkness that was sentient, that knew your name, and every dark thought or wish you had ever had. When you looked into this abyss, this void, it looked back and claimed you as its own. When you came back from that journey, you came back changed. A piece of that darkness came back with you, and stayed with you until the day you died. Once you looked, it changed you forever.

Shelby shivered again, this time in fear. The people chasing her were beacons of light, filled with a holy fire that she had never seen the equal of. Compared to them she was a candle flame. One could not extinguish a fire with a flame. She needed to banish their light in order to live. Her eyes narrowed. When the time came to choose between them and her, she would choose herself. She wasn't ready to meet the death crone yet, not ready to walk through the shadowlands toward reincarnation.

Shelby would fight, and she would fight hard. If she ended up going down, she was going to make certain that she took them with her, and hopefully, the Gods would show her the mercy her teachers had failed to give. Then perhaps, she would finally be free to live her life and forget this whole mess. She had to find the dark well. It was her only shot. The hardest part would be to survive the journey there. The thought of seeing into those dark waters terrified her, but it was the path she must now walk. And so she would.

Her plans made, Shelby fell into a fitful sleep, completely unaware of just how close she was to dying.

* * *

"Report priest." The acolyte performed the bow of honor, legs together, bowing from the waist, hands balled at the forehead.

"Milady, Shelby Corinthia's last known location was in the Vlasstatt Inn, room thirty four. Records show that just twenty minutes after signing in, she disappeared. No one even remembers her or her being there."

High Priestess Drina slammed her goblet of wine down on the table, some of its contents splashing upon the pristine white table cloth.

"She dares! She dares to use the abilities that WE have taught her against innocent humans! She has turned more evil than I thought." The flames in the fireplace on the other side of the room jumped and roared as the Holy woman's anger went wheeling about the room like a course hot wind.

"Fear not milady. We have contacted an assassin with spotless records. He has never failed to complete a kill. He served in the military, and by all records, he was a perfect soldier, and a one General Ryker's favorite captain. As it turns out, he is now staying in the same Inn that our wayward daughter was most recently spotted in." The flames in the fireplace went back to normal.

"Very good then. I want her dead acolyte, I want her dead soon." The acolyte bowed once again.

"Fear not milady. We will not fail you. She will be dead before the eclipse hits."

"Make it so acolyte." The sun rose on their fair House, and the Lady stood, the first rays of the newborn sun highlighting the gold in her blonde hair. Her white silk robes made barely a rustle as she moved with lithe grace towards the ornately carved doors at the end of the receiving rooms. The maidens would be waking soon, and she had to make the announcement that one of their own had been seduced by evil and killed because of it. They could not know the truth. The maidens could not know the true reason that Shelby had disappeared.

* * *

Shelby woke eyes bleary to find that the sun had arisen. She had to move. She never thought she would be grateful for her ability to have dream visions or of her strange connection to the High priestess.

Stretching off the stiffness of long stillness, Shelby vaulted into action. She quickly threw on a pair of black jeans, a white sleeveless shirt, and a black leather jacket. She pulled her hair back into a high ponytail and strapped her blades all over her body. One on each calf, one on each upper arm, one strapped to each wrist, one hooked to her lower back, and yet another blade strapped between her shoulders. She took her bag and shouldered it and took the forest at a run. The trees went past her in a blur at her speed. She knew she was running faster than most people could, and yet she still felt like it wasn't fast enough.

They were determined to kill her. The sooner she got to the well the safer she would be. But first she needed supplies. She only knew of one place she could go for the supplies she needed. After all, the well wasn't anywhere she could physically get to. In fact, the well wasn't even on this plane of existence.

For this journey, Shelby would risk the very thing she was trying to save. Her life.


End file.
